Free Whispers of Fate: The Mistresses of Fate, Book Two by Deirdre Dore Page A

she was wearing. . . .”
    Tavey was emphatic. “It is. She was wearing it. I remember.”
    “Okay, we’ll take a look. We’ll be there soon, just remember that it was a long time ago.”
    “I haven’t forgotten.”
    “None of us have forgotten Summer.”
    “But I could be wrong. That’s what you’re saying.”
    When Raquel grew passionate about something, her voice took on the deep rolling tones of her grandmother, whose daddy had been a preacher. “Octavia Collins, you know as well as I do that what we remember is rarely the truth. It’s like a whisper told across a crowded room. The truth changes from one ear to the other.”
    “I swear it’s hers.”
    “You might be right,” Raquel temporized. “You usually are.”
    “This is crazy, but . . . I feel like she’s sending me a message. Telling me not to give up.”
    Raquel had always been the most comfortable with the idea that Summer and her family practiced witchcraft. “Well, if anyone could do that, our Summer would,” Raquel allowed.
    “She would,” Tavey agreed and let out a long sigh. “It’s been a long time since we missed church.”
    “I imagine God will understand.”
    “Thomas made quiches.”
    “This morning is getting better by the minute.”
    Tavey knew she should chuckle, but she couldn’t quite manage it. “I’ll see you soon.”
    “Tavey?”
    “Yeah?”
    “You’ve never given up on anything.”
    “Thanks, love you.”
    “Love you, too,” her friend replied, and hung up.
    Tavey sighed and dropped the phone into her lap. She thought maybe that was part of her problem, the not giving up. She clung to so many things: her pain over Summer’s disappearance, her convictions about Abraham, Tyler. None of them had helped find out what had happened to her friend. Maybe it was time she started to think a little differently.

9

    RAQUEL HUNG UP and called Chris, putting the phone on speaker and tossing it on the bed while she changed out of her church dress and heels. If she knew Tavey, and she did, at some point today they were going to be tromping through the woods behind a dog. Raquel had never been a big fan of the woods. She pulled out a pair of lightweight cargo pants, an APD T-shirt, socks, and her hiking boots.
    “What’s up?” Chris answered, sounding distracted. Chris was always distracted. Six months ago, Raquel would have explained away Chris’s tone with the assumption that she’d once again gotten wrapped up in an Internet search for another missing kid, but these days she could just as easily be wrapping herself around her handsome FBI agent boyfriend.
    “Tavey wants us to come over to the house. She’s found something—she swears it’s the ribbon Summer was wearing the day she went missing.”
    “Really? The blue one with the stars?”
    Raquel paused as she pulled the T-shirt over her head. “No, red with a white stripe.”
    “Oh.”
    “You sure about that? The blue one with the stars?”
    “No, it’s what I see when I dream about that night.”
    “You were the last one to see her.”
    “I know,” Chris replied flatly.
    Raquel winced. Yeah, she was pretty sure Chris knew that well enough. The problem was that she didn’t remember what happened.
    “Sorry, honey.” Raquel held the phone to her ear while she put on crisp white athletic socks, enjoying the clean bleached smell of them as she drew them over her narrow brown feet.
    “No problem.” Chris sighed. “I wish I could tell you for sure what Summer had been wearing, but what I see in my head is a blue ribbon with yellow stars.”
    “Okay, well, Tav is pretty upset.”
    “Hang on.” There was a shuffle and a man’s muffled voice. “ It’s Raquel. We’re going to Tavey’s instead of to church  . . . Yes, you have to come . . . because you love me. ”
    The phone crackled as Chris brought it back to her ear. “Okay, we’ll be on our way soon.”
    “That’s good.” Raquel slid on her shoes, bending to tie them in neat